On Dec. 26, thousands of individuals and families hit stores and malls to spend the money they received as gifts for the holidays. My family and I are always a part of that number. This past year was no exception. As we hit the West County mall in Des Peres, Missouri, I expected the usual to happen: finding so many things I wanted and strategizing what was worth spending the money on. But the last thing I would have expected, was for a store that I had given up on a long time ago, to do something so incredible that was worthy of being shouted to the world.

I’ve always been a curvier girl, even back to the elementary school days. I developed a lot sooner than all the other girls, and I couldn't wear the same things as either of my friends.

Well, almost 10 years later, I still tend to have that problem.

My curves still exist, except now they’re more prominent. My backside, thighs and bust take me up two or three sizes more than I would be if I were more proportionately shaped. This has made shopping for clothing difficult almost anywhere I go. My first three years of high-school homecoming dress shopping ended in tears. Junior year prom was probably the worst. I couldn't find anything that looked good on me that also didn't look like it came from Grandma’s closet. It wasn’t until senior year when I knocked some sense into myself and started with the stores that while unpopular amongst my peers, I knew I’d have the best chance of finding something that was cute, could fit, and hopefully I’d be able to avoid some tears for once. By my senior prom, I found one of the most beautiful dresses of my life on my first try, all because I let go of trying avoid stores I felt were too lame to shop at.

I accepted that I needed bigger sizes. But it seems as though most other department stores have yet to get the memo.

Over the past few years, I have created a mental list of stores that I refused to continue to shop at because they just don’t seem to understand how bodies work these days. A few of those stores included Express, Fuego, American Eagle, and the worst, Forever 21.

The last time I shopped at Forever 21 was more than a year ago, and I was embarrassed to be in the store. Anything that had a size in an extra large was slim picking, and the “plus-sized” section was atrocious. Nothing cute, nothing flattering, and almost nothing period, since the section was probably a total of two racks of clothing. I gave up.

But that day after Christmas, while I was temporarily away from my mom, she called me and told me that I should check out Forever 21. After I explained to her my reasoning behind not even wanting to step foot in that store, she told me that they had a great plus-sized section and that I would definitely want to check it out. While I didn’t believe her, I decided I would check it out just to check it out. And when I saw it, I was speechless.

The section was more than triple the size it had been the last time I visited. And the content was beautiful, modern, and full of things I would actually want to be seen in. It was just like the clothes in every other section of the store. I was overwhelmed as I skimmed through the racks, wanting to try on every article of clothing available. And I found great things to wear for New Year’s, the upcoming spring semester, and a plethora of other future occasions.

But there was one observation I made that day that helps validate several other observations I’ve been making in clothing stores for a long time. There was a large number of men and women shopping in the plus-sized section, just as much, if not more, than the other sections of the store.

And why is it, that whenever I’m shopping in certain places, particularly Charlotte Russe as of recent, all that seems to be left over are the smalls and extra smalls?

Probably because fashion designers and famous brands, as well as the fashion merchandising market have all forgotten who exactly their audiences are. Extra large and large sizes are always the first to go out of everything, and that’s because most women are average sized, and those extra large and larges aren’t so extra large or large, but more average. Yes, there are obviously women that are small, extra small, and even double extra small, but in our country, our women are on average, the same size as the measurements that qualify are large or extra large. The same goes for jeans. Different sizes in jeans are completely disproportionate from store to store, and many will agree that some stores are spot on, on what a size eight pair of jeans really is as opposed to most others.

While my faith has temporarily been restored in one department store that I loved, it’s the opposite for most others. Most of the time I walk through these stores and I feel like the clothes themselves are judging me because I’m crazy for trying to shop in a store that hardly carries things my size. And no person should have to feel that way. No woman should have to feel like Victoria’s Secret is not an option. No man should have to resort to shopping at Target or WalMart because he’s given up on everywhere else.

So to the rest of these stores and the people that operate them, try to learn from Forever 21’s example. Help us to redefine attainable fashion and sizing for people everywhere.